Coming to a Cleveland Clinic location? If you aren’t watching how many calories you eat, even fat-free and low-fat foods will be stored in your body protein fat carbs calories per gram fat, leading to weight gain instead of weight loss.
Fat is one of six nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. Of these six nutrients, carbohydrates, protein and fats provide calories. Each gram of fat yields 9 calories. A calorie is a measurement, just like a teaspoon or an inch.
The more calories a food has, the more energy it can provide to your body. When you eat more calories than you need, your body stores the extra calories as body fat. Even a fat-free food can have a lot of calories. Excess calories in any form can be stored as body fat.
Why does fat get much attention? Fat gets much of the attention for many good reasons. High total cholesterol or a high LDL cholesterol level is a leading risk factor for heart disease. Note: Protein sources, especially red meat and dairy products, contain saturated fat. Good, low-fat sources of protein include lean meat, fish, poultry without skin, beans, lentils, tofu, fat-free or low-fat yogurt, milk, and cottage cheese. Fat has more than twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates and proteins.